Fresh ideas for helping FDI companies find and retain talent

The IDA and Skillnet Ireland have come together to form a strategic partnership with the aim of supporting foreign direct investment (FDI) companies that are seeking to attract and retain talent through impactful upskilling and reskilling programmes. The two agencies have collaborated over the last nine months to develop new programmes and engagement models to help multinational companies avail of the talent development offerings of Skillnet Ireland’s 73 business networks, which cover most industry sectors and all regions of the country.

The first initiative from the partnership is a strategic talent development programme for companies seeking to future-proof their workforce in the face of new strategic challenges and opportunities.

“The IDA strategy 2021-2024 is based on the five pillars of transformation, sustainability, impact, growth and regions,” says Breda O’Toole, head of IDA Ireland’s Talent Transformation and Innovation department. “There is a very strong focus on talent development within the transformation pillar and we established a new team to support that pillar.”

She explains that while many multinational companies in Ireland are leaders in training and development, quite a number of them do not have the resources to devote to it. Companies in the ICT, life sciences and engineering sectors tend to be the most advanced, she notes.

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“The very nature of their business and the fast-moving environment they operate in means that they need to take a strategic approach to training and development,” she says. “On the other hand, there are lots of companies that already work with Skillnet Ireland but don’t have dedicated resources for training and development. A key pillar of Skillnet Ireland’s strategy is to support the multinational community, and that made the agency a natural partner for us in this new initiative.”

We have phenomenal multinational companies here in Ireland and want them to continue to grow and succeed here

The new initiative will assist Skillnet Ireland with its engagement with the FDI community. “We have a lot of engagements with the FDI community but not in a structured way,” says Mark Jordan, chief strategy officer with Skillnet Ireland. “A company would go to one of our Skillnet business networks when it required a specific course. But it wouldn’t have a strategic training plan in place.”

Talent development is critically important for companies to maintain their competitive position. “We have phenomenal multinational companies here in Ireland and want them to continue to grow and succeed here,” says O’Toole. “Companies around the world are digitalising their businesses and if companies here don’t do it they won’t be able to add value to their corporate mandates. They will no longer be competitive and won’t be able to sustain jobs in Ireland. But digitalisation requires skills.

“There is a talent shortage across the globe and businesses have to look at more creative ways to develop and upskill people. We want to showcase Ireland as a place where this is done really well. We want to show our clients what can be done by partnering with a State agency.”

The new programme is aimed at meeting the longer term rather than the immediate skills needs of FDI companies. “We want all of our client companies to think strategically about how they develop talent,” O’Toole adds. “It’s about matching talent development to business needs and objectives.”

The pilot was very successful, and we expect more than 20 companies to have gone through the programme by the end of the year

“We worked with IDA last year on a pilot programme to help companies put together a strategic training and development plan to meet their business objectives,” says Jordan. “The programme involves coaching and mentoring to help companies to assess their talent needs. We assign consultants to work with organisations at different levels, mentor them, and help them put a plan together. They look at the pain points to be addressed and the strengths which can be built on. The consultants help the clients to think outside the box in terms of training and development. It is different from a training programme. Once they have identified their needs and put a plan together, the company can present it to IDA to get the supports to implement it.”

Two companies participated in the pilot and a number of companies from the financial services, biopharmaceutical, aviation communications, manufacturing and software development sectors are about to start the programme now that it has been formally launched. “The pilot was very successful, and we expect more than 20 companies to have gone through the programme by the end of the year. We are also collaborating with the IDA to help companies identify and avail of the extensive range of training programmes across all sectors and regions that are available through our Skillnet business networks.”